In 1893, a London-trained lawyer named Mohandas K. Gandhi left his native India to handle a legal matter for two Indian merchants in South Africa. Soon after his arrival, he was thrown off a train for refusing to leave a "whites only" compartment. The train incident sparked an awakening in Gandhi. He would later develop a philosophy of nonviolent resistance as a means to bring about political and social reform--to end British rule in India, to campaign for equal rights, and to promote harmony among people of different religions.